The History of the Playhouse
The Doris Harper-White Community Playhouse is a community institution in Flagstaff. The building itself has a history that predates its current use as a performance venue, carrying stories from multiple eras of the town's past.
Before the curtains went up and the playbills went out, this building served other purposes. It has been part of downtown Flagstaff through periods of growth, hardship, and transformation. The walls remember all of it.
Today, the Playhouse serves the community as a venue for local theatre and events. But the building's story did not start with its current chapter, and the people who spend time inside it know that.
The Haunting
The people who work in the Playhouse have their own accounts of unexplained activity. The stories here are quieter and more personal than the ones at the hotels. Less dramatic, but no less unsettling to those who have experienced them.
There are moments in the building that do not have easy explanations. Sounds that come from empty rooms. A feeling that you are not alone when the schedule says you should be. The kind of thing that you mention to a coworker and discover they have noticed it too.
The Playhouse holds its mysteries close. The full story is better heard on the tour, standing outside the building, where your guide can fill in what the building itself will not say.
The Research Behind the Story
The stories told at this stop are grounded in Susan Johnson's archival research into Flagstaff's historic downtown buildings. Johnson's methodology is consistent across every stop: primary sources, public records, and first-person accounts. No internet scripts. No borrowed folklore.
The stories on this tour are not Googled scripts. They come from years of archival research by published historian Susan Johnson.
Learn more about Susan Johnson's work at susanjohnson.org.
Tour
Downtown Flagstaff Haunted History Tour
Duration
75 minutes, ~1 mile
Meeting Point
Wheeler Park, 212 W Aspen Ave
Schedule
Daily 7 PM, Fri-Sat 7 PM & 8 PM
Walk the Full Route Tonight
7 stops. 75 minutes. Stories you will not hear anywhere else.
Part of the Freaky Foot Tours family